Page 109 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 109
European Neoliberal Discourse
and Slovenian Educational Space
Urška Štremfel
Introduction
In the field of education, the global convergence on neoliberal discourses
that direct domestic reforms has been increasingly discussed in the last
few decades from the viewpoint of different social sciences (including
the political and educational science). The important part of these scientif-
ic debates are the studies of neoliberal governmentality,1 understood as the
political philosophy of governance (Mitchell, 2006), which strategically
use particular discourse and technology to steer society towards optimal
market gains and profit. Its success lies in self-management, responsibili-
ty and calculative rationality/choices of individual actors. Neoliberalism
is conceptualised not as standardized universal technology, but as the log-
ic of governing that migrates and interacts with situated circumstances
and is selectively taken up in diverse political contexts (Mitchell, 2006;
Ong, 2007; Wahlström and Sundberg, 2018).2 Within that framework,
Europeanisation research attempts to determine how specific EU neolib-
eral governance structures and processes influence the development of na-
tional educational spaces (e.g. Dale and Robertson, 2012).
Although each EU member state is characterised by country-spe-
cific peculiarities in the educational system, some clusters of countries
1 According to Larner (2000) studies of neoliberalism can be divided into three distinct
analytical categories: policy framework, ideology, governmentality.
2 Mitchell (2006) argues that neoliberalism is often cohabiting and/or overlapping with
other regimes. She explains that the socio-democratic project and neoliberalism in the
EU present “a complex mix of `third-way’ type claims to fairness, social justice, social co-
hesion, and `open’ government, accompanied by a sharp institutional transition to a more
market-driven logic”.
107
and Slovenian Educational Space
Urška Štremfel
Introduction
In the field of education, the global convergence on neoliberal discourses
that direct domestic reforms has been increasingly discussed in the last
few decades from the viewpoint of different social sciences (including
the political and educational science). The important part of these scientif-
ic debates are the studies of neoliberal governmentality,1 understood as the
political philosophy of governance (Mitchell, 2006), which strategically
use particular discourse and technology to steer society towards optimal
market gains and profit. Its success lies in self-management, responsibili-
ty and calculative rationality/choices of individual actors. Neoliberalism
is conceptualised not as standardized universal technology, but as the log-
ic of governing that migrates and interacts with situated circumstances
and is selectively taken up in diverse political contexts (Mitchell, 2006;
Ong, 2007; Wahlström and Sundberg, 2018).2 Within that framework,
Europeanisation research attempts to determine how specific EU neolib-
eral governance structures and processes influence the development of na-
tional educational spaces (e.g. Dale and Robertson, 2012).
Although each EU member state is characterised by country-spe-
cific peculiarities in the educational system, some clusters of countries
1 According to Larner (2000) studies of neoliberalism can be divided into three distinct
analytical categories: policy framework, ideology, governmentality.
2 Mitchell (2006) argues that neoliberalism is often cohabiting and/or overlapping with
other regimes. She explains that the socio-democratic project and neoliberalism in the
EU present “a complex mix of `third-way’ type claims to fairness, social justice, social co-
hesion, and `open’ government, accompanied by a sharp institutional transition to a more
market-driven logic”.
107
